Jordaan & Anne Frank

The canal house at Prinsengracht 263 where Anne Frank, her family, and four others hid in a secret annex behind a movable bookcase for 761 days from July 1942 until their betrayal in August 1944. Anne wrote her diary here between ages 13 and 15. She died in Bergen-Belsen in February 1945, just weeks before liberation. Her father Otto, the only survivor, published the diary in 1947. Over 1.3 million people visit annually. The annex rooms are preserved empty — as they were when the Gestapo stripped them.

Tickets sell out weeks in advance — book online exactly 6 weeks before your visit when new slots open at 10 AM. The Westerkerk church next door, mentioned in Anne's diary, has a free tower climb.

A Protestant church completed in 1631, designed by Hendrick de Keyser in Renaissance style. Its 85-meter tower, the Westertoren, is the tallest in Amsterdam and topped with the blue imperial crown of Maximilian I of Austria — a symbol the city earned the right to use in 1489. Rembrandt was buried somewhere in the church in 1669, though the exact location is unknown (a plaque marks the approximate spot). Anne Frank could hear the Westertoren's carillon from her hiding place and wrote about it in her diary. The tower climb offers panoramic canal views.

The tower climb (April-October only) is guided and limited to small groups — arrive early. The Homomonument in front of the church, a pink granite triangle, is the world's first memorial to persecuted LGBTQ+ people.